Breakdown
by Suspension
Summary: What happens when Drew pulls a lifethreatening prank on Cody, and Zack tries to defend his brother? Oneshot.


Don't worry, I'm still working on "Say What You Mean", I just had a sort of burst of creativity, and it needed to be recorded. Just one, long chapter that I needed to clear from my mind. Hope you all enjoy!

Oh, and I made up Drew's last name.

UPDATE: I'm not making another chapter, I just wanted to address the fact that I'm an idiot and didn't realize that I had disabled anonymous reviews. I love all reviews and all criticizisms and all "good job!"'s. I just forgot to enable the reviews! So, now all you anon's can review my stories! Sorry about that!

UPDATE 2: Thank you, Sirrah, for pointing that out to me. I honestly thought I had written that in the disclaimer, but I see that I hadn't. In my every day life, I tend to think something in my mind and think I said it, when I haven't. It's fixed now :)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the "Suite Life" characters or the CSI episode "Eleven Angry Jurors", where I got the chili/peanut butter idea from.

"Mr. Martin, do you want to explain to me why you're here?" Mrs. Roberts, the school principal, asked with a hardness in her voice.

Zack scowled at her, pushing the ice pack he had in his hand further up his shoulder. "No, I don't actually," he said. He turned his head to the side so he didn't have to look at her.

Suddenly Mr. Thompson, the science teacher, appeared in the doorway. He lead in Drew, who was nursing a broken finger, a fat lip, and a black eye; not to mention various other minor cuts and bruises. Zack looked up at him and went ballistic.

"What the hell is he doing here!" he screamed, jumping up from his chair and dropping his ice pack. Drew flinched.

"Mr. Martin, sit down now!" Mrs. Roberts scolded.

"I'll rip his damn fingers off! Then see if he can hurt my brother again! You dirty bastard! I'll..." Zack screamed until Mrs. Roberts took him by the shoulders and got down face to face with him.

"You WILL sit down right now, or I will EXPEL you, do I make myself clear?" she said, pointing her finger in Zack's face. Zack was breathing hard and shaking with anger, but he knew better than to mess with Mrs. Roberts. He sat down. Mr. Thompson led Drew over to the seat next to Zack, who rolled his eyes.

"Thank you, Andrew," Mrs. Roberts said to Mr. Thompson, who nodded and left, closing the door behind him. Mrs. Roberts looked at both boys, who were staring in opposite directions from one another.

"So, who's going to start?" she asked.

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Yesterday...

Zack, Cody, Max, Tapeworm, Bob, and Agnes were all sitting together at one of the cafeteria tables having lunch.

"So what did you think of Mr. Thompson's test?" Max asked with a small amount of fear in her voice. Everyone except Cody groaned.

"How does he expect us to remember all that junk anyway? He makes those tests too hard," Zack said, shoveling spaghetti into his mouth. Cody shrugged.

"I thought it was easy. He covered everything in the notes. If you all would have joined my study group that I formed the night before, instead of playing video games, you would have done better," he said. Zack laughed.

"Yeah right, bro. Study group over video games?" he said. Everyone agreed. Cody sighed.

"Ok, but next time.." Cody started, but he was interrupted by something hitting him on his cheek. He turned his head to see Drew flicking things at him.

"Cut it out, Drew!" Cody said, wiping the side of his face. Drew's band of followers laughed and Drew flicked another item at Cody, hitting him square in the forehead. Zack looked over and glared at Drew, who laughed. Then Drew picked up a handful of what he was flicking at Cody and threw them at him. Cody rolled his eyes as Drew and his friends laughed. He started to say something else when he looked down at what was being thrown at him and caught his breath. He started to breathe heavily and clenched his throat. Small red spots started appearing on Cody's forearms and his cheeks. Zack looked up to see his brother gasping for air.

"Cody!" he yelled, watching as Cody clenched his throat.

"Max, his EpiPen!" Zack said, holding out his hand. Max, who was sitting next to Cody, ripped something out from the side of Cody's bag and threw it to Zack. Zack caught it and dove down next to Cody, jamming the EpiPen into his brother's upper thigh. Cody let out a strained gasp and fell forward. Zack caught his brother and patted his back, saying "It's ok, buddy, you're ok. I'm right here, it's gonna be ok. Just breathe." Drew and his gang were hysterical.

"Dude, what the heck was that all about?" Drew said through fits of laughter. Max glared at Drew, picking up a handful of what he had thrown at Cody, and threw them as hard as she could back at Drew.

"Peanuts!" she yelled furiously. "He has a severe peanut allergy, you idiot! If he even touches one, his throat starts to close up!"

By this time, one of the teachers in the lunch room came over to Cody's table and asked, "What's going on over here?" Zack, who was still cradeling Cody in his arms, opened his mouth to rat Drew out, but Cody spoke up first.

"Sorry. I accidentially touched some peanuts," he explained, holding up the empty EpiPen and showing it to the teacher.

"Do you need to go to the nurse, Mr. Martin?" the teacher asked, his voice full of concern. Cody shook his head.

"No, I think I'll be ok, thanks," he said, looking at Zack and shaking his head just slightly enough for him to get the hint. The teacher left them and Drew said, "Smart move, Codester." He smirked and walked out of the cafeteria with his group of merry men (and women) right behind him. Zack helped Cody up and took his face in his hands.

"You ok?" he asked, looking him over to make sure the redness was going away. Cody nodded and took Zack's hands off his face.

"Why didn't you let me tell the teacher what happened?" Zack asked, sitting back down at the table.

"Yeah, someone needs to put Drew in his place," Tapeworm said, and the table agreed.

"You guys know he'll just make our lives more miserable than he already does if we get him in trouble," Cody said, putting the empty EpiPen back into his school bag. He mentally reminded himself that he should put a new one in his bag tonight.

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Mrs. Roberts looked looked at Zack and said, "So your brother had an allergic reaction to the peanuts that Mr. Brown threw at him yesterday. Why didn't you or Cody tell one of the teachers that Mr. Brown was harassing him?"

Zack let out a hollow laugh. He looked at Mrs. Roberts and asked, "And could you have protected him outside of school?"

Mrs. Roberts pursed her lips and looked at Drew expectantly. He lifted his head and smacked his lips, saying "Man, how was I supposed to know he would get majorly freaked out on some peanuts?" Then he whispered something nasty about Cody under his breath and turned to the side again. Zack stood up again and shouted, "What did you say about my brother!"

Mrs. Roberts raised her hand to Zack and said, "Mr. Martin, do NOT make me ask you to sit down again! Understood?" Zack growled and threw himself into his chair, making as much of a scene as possible. Mrs. Roberts turned her rage toward Drew.

"And you, Mr. Brown! I wouldn't make smart comments in my office if I were you. You're already facing a nice, long suspension. Do not make me expel you. Which you certainly do deserve!" she said sternly, her temper getting the best of her. Drew lowered his head and muttered, "Yes, m'am."

"Now, let's finish going over what happened," Mrs. Roberts said, folding her hands together.

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Earlier that day...

Cody and Zack were walking toward the cafeteria after science class with Tapeworm and Max.

"Hey, Zack, would you run with me to the gym real quick? I left my bag in there and it has my money in it," Max said, tugging on Zack's arm. Zack rolled his eyes and said, "Sure, let's go." They took off down the hall.

Cody and Tapeworm entered the lunch room and Tapeworm took in a huge breath. "Chili day," he said lovingly. Cody shook his head and laughed at the enormous grin spread on Tapeworm's face. Once through the line and having sat down at their lunch table, Tapeworm snapped his fingers together. "I forgot my milk!" He sprang to his feet and got back on the line.

Cody opened his milk and took a sip when John, one of the kids in his math class, came up and tapped him on the shoulder. Cody turned his head and asked, "What's up?" John hoisted his backpack higher on his shoulder and said, "I was wondering if you could show me something on the math homework for tonight. You're really smart in math, and I don't understand all these formulas." Cody sighed and said, "Sure, what do you need help with?" John led Cody over to an empty table, winking at Drew as he sat down with Cody.

While no one was watching, Drew took the lid off Cody's chili and took out a packet of peanut butter he had gotten out of the vending machine outside the cafeteria. He ripped the plastic off and pushed the peanut butter down the tube, into Cody's chili. He mixed it up so that the peanut butter wasn't noticable and put the lid back on. He smirked and gave a thumbs up to his gang, who were all snickering. "This ought to be a good laugh," he said to himself, walking back over to his table.

Tapeworm came back from purchasing his milk, shortly followed by Max and Zack. They were all getting started on lunch when Cody walked back to the table and sat down, putting his math notes back into his school bag.

"What was that all about?" Zack asked, wolfing down his chili. Cody shrugged.

"John needed help understanding the math homework," he said, taking off the top to his chili and digging in. Over by Drew's table, everyone started giggling. Zack looked over at them and glared.

"I really wish someone would put Drew in his place," Max said, giving Drew's table a dirty look. The lunch table agreed. But Cody was scrunching up his nose.

"My chili tastes funny," he said, putting his spoon down and taking a sip of his milk. Drew's table was still giggling. Zack looked at them suspiciously. Then he turned his head to his brother and his eyes grew wide. Cody's face was starting to break out in hives.

"Cody!" he said hastily, reaching for his brother. Suddenly, Cody started to cough, clenching his throat. Drew and his table burst into a fit of laughter.

"Cody! Max! The EpiPen!" Zack shouted, soaring to his brother's side once again. Max grabbed the EpiPen from Cody's backpack and threw it to Zack.

It was a repeat of yesterday. Only this time, when Zack slammed the EpiPen into Cody's thigh, he realized it was empty. Cody had forgotten to put a new one in his bag.

Cody was gasping for air and fell to the floor, knocking over his lunch in the process. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he started seizing. "CODY!" Zack screamed, trying to control his brother's involuntary body movements. Drew's eyes grew wide and he stopped laughing. Max and Tapeworm started yelling for help and teachers came running over. Cody's body was still jerking around on the floor with Zack crying helplessly over him when one of the teachers yelled for someone to call 911. The school nurse, who happened to be in the cafeteria at the time, came running over and told the teachers to get Zack and the others away from Cody.

"NO! Cody! Get off me!" Zack was screaming, flailing his arms and legs around wildly as the math teacher, Miss Price, held him back.

"He's going into Anaphylactic Shock! Go get my bag in the top drawer of my desk, NOW!" Mrs. Henderson, the school nurse, screamed. She held Cody's twitching body in her arms. In a matter of seconds, one of the teachers had run down the hall and back, carrying the nurse's bag in their arms. Mrs. Henderson grabbed it and pulled out a vile and a needle. She filled it and pushed the stick into Cody's left arm. The twitching started slowing down. Zack was still screaming with tears running down his face. Only he wasn't yelling for Cody anymore. He was yelling for Drew.

He threw Miss Price's arms off him after kicking her in the leg and lunged toward a fearful Drew with rage in his eyes.

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"We do not condone violence in this school, Mr. Martin. Nor do we condone deadly pranks, Mr. Brown. Yes, I said deadly. Did you have any idea that your actions could have killed Cody today?" Mrs. Roberts asked, with a certain amount of disgust in her voice.

Drew hung his head and said, "It was just a prank. I thought it would just make him sick, like it did yesterday."

"Well, you almost killed him!" Zack said, not ashamed of the tears that were flowing freely from his eyes. Drew pursed his lips together and turned his head.

Mrs. Roberts and the boys sat in silence for a few moments, then she said, "Mr. Martin, I'm putting you on a three day suspension from school. You will apologize to Miss Price for kicking her and you will clean her classroom for the rest of the semester. And as for you, Mr. Brown, you will be leaving on a two week suspension. Upon your return, you will spend the rest of the year staying after school, three days a week, cleaning around inside and outside of the school. You will also be banned from any school activities, such as dances or fundraisers, and you will no longer be allowed to play on the school's basketball team. Do I make myself clear?"

The boys nodded.

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At the Hospital...

Cody was lying in his hospital bed, sleeping. Carey was sitting next to him, stroking his hair when Zack came in the room, followed by Maddie.

"Thanks for bringing him over, Maddie." Carey said, looking at Zack with harsh eyes.

"No problem, Carey. How's Cody doing?" Maddie asked, putting her hand on Carey's shoulder.

Zack ignored his mother's death glare and let the two girls talk. He stood next to Cody and stroked the side of his face. "I'll never let anything like this happen to you ever again, buddy, I promise," he thought to himself. He kissed his brother's forehead and walked out of the room with his mother and Maddie, who asked to be kept up to date on Cody's condition before leaving.

Carey turned to Zack and crossed her arms. "I had a long talk with your principal and with Mrs. Brown. We're very disappointed in you boys," she said.

"Mom, I'm sorry I beat up Drew. But can you blame me? He almost killed Cody!" Zack said in a pleading voice. Carey's face softened.

"How did this happen?" she asked, sitting down on one of the benches. Zack sat next to her.

"Drew always picks on Cody. But yesterday he found out Cody was allergic to peanuts and he thought it would be funny to watch him suffer," Zack explained, folding his arms in anger.

Carey shook her head and was about to say something when Mrs. Brown and her son, Drew, came walking up. Zack's eyes grew full of rage again, but he controlled himself for the sake of his mother.

"Mrs. Martin, my son has something he would like to say to you. Go on, Drew," Mrs. Brown said coldly, pushing him closer to Mrs. Martin.

Drew looked at Carey, who folded her arms and tilted her head. He sighed and said, "I'm sorry I put peanut butter in Cody's chili. I didn't mean to hurt him." Carey nodded her head.

"Trust me, it will never happen again. Or I will kill him myself," Mrs. Brown said, looking shamefully at her son. Carey shook her head and said, "As long as you realize that what you did was wrong. You could have killed my son today."

Drew hung his head, as he had been doing all day, and nodded. Carey looked at Zack and said, "I think you have something to say to Mrs. Brown." Zack mentally kicked himself. He'd rather stick cocktail forks in his eyes than apologize for attacking Drew. But he knew it was the right thing to do.

"I'm sorry for beating up Drew," Zack said, shuffling his feet on the floor. Mrs. Brown nodded and said, "We'll be praying for Cody. Come on, son." And with that they walked down the hall and out of the hospital.

"I'm going to call Max's mom and Tapeworm's mom and let them know that Cody is going to be ok. Why don't you go sit with your brother?" Carey said, taking out her cell phone and walking toward the doors that lead outside.

Zack got up and went into Cody's room. He sat down next to him and started to rub his arm. After a few minutes, Cody began to stir and Zack sat back in his chair. Cody opened his eyes and looked at his brother.

"Where am I?" he asked in a groggy voice, squinting his eyes.

"The hospital," Zack said, moving Cody's hair off of his face. Cody began to think and started remembering what happened.

"There were peanuts in my chili, weren't there?" he asked, scratching at the IV that was taped to his hand. Zack nodded.

"Peanut butter, actually. You knocked over the chili when you fell and I saw the glob of it when the nurse was trying to calm you down, while you were having a seizure," Zack said, moving closer to his brother.

"How?" Cody asked in a hurt tone. Zack explained to him what happened.

"And I got suspended, but I'd do it all over again. He deserved to get his ass beat," Zack said with a half smile. Cody returned it.

"Thanks for getting suspended for me," Cody said, sniffling. Zack kissed his cheek and smiled.

"I'll always be there for you, little bro," Zack said with a huge smile, which Cody returned. Then Zack tossed the remote control to Cody and hopped into his hospital bed with him.

"We can watch anything you want, just as long as it's not educational," Zack said pointedly.

"Ok, but we're not watching anything scary," Cody said, turning on the TV. The two brothers layed back on the bed and flipped through the channels, knowing that everything was going to be ok.

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Yeah, so, it just came to me. Short and Sweet. I couldn't help myself. I hope you enjoyed it!

xoxo


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